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Bless
| rarity = Common | type = Unit Enchantment | casting_cost = | combat_casting_cost = | upkeep_cost = | research_cost = | effects = Enchanted unit receives and against all attacks and spells associated with the and Realms. }} Bless is a Common Unit Enchantment of the Realm. For it may be cast on a friendly unit on the overland map to give it a little divine providence. As a result, whenever the unit is targeted by spells or attacks from the or Realms, it receives temporary Defense and Resistance bonuses of and for the duration of resolving the effect of that spell or attack. Bless can then be maintained for an Upkeep Cost of per turn. Alternatively, a cheaper version of the same spell may be cast for during combat, in which case it will bestow the same benefits on a unit only for the duration of the battle (with no permanent effects or Upkeep Cost). Effects Bless gives a unit a modicum of divine protection from various sources of harm associated with the and Realms, including Melee Attacks made by Fantastic Units that belong to those Realms. Resistance Bonus Whenever the Blessed unit is targeted by any Resistance-based effect associated with the or Realms, it temporarily receives a bonus of to its score while resolving that effect. This will make it harder for opponents to inflict ill effects on the unit, and is cumulative with all other modifiers to the unit's score, be those persistent or similarly temporary; universal or conditional; positive or negative. If the total, "effective" score is or more, the unit becomes completely immune to the effect, as it no longer has any chance of failing its Resistance Check against it. Bless triggers against a multitude of effects of many different kinds, as illustrated below: Defense Bonus Whenever the Blessed unit is targeted by any Conventional Damage attack associated with the or Realms, its Defense score receives a temporary bonus of for the duration of resolving that . On average, this allows the Blessed unit to block an extra from these attacks. This bonus is cumulative with most, but not all effects that modify . Most notably, it is applied before any of the following, and will thus be overriden by them, since they all set instead of modifying it: Fire Immunity, Magic Immunity, , Illusion Damage, Doom Damage. It is also applied before the Armor Piercing Damage effect, which means that attacks marked with this Damage Type will halve the bonus granted by Bless. Determining what Realm an attack is associated with may not always be straightforward. For spells, it is naturally the Realm that the spell comes from. The same is true for Melee Attacks, although in this case it may be worth remembering that all Undead units always belong to the Realm, even if they were created from a Fantastic Unit of some other Realm; and that units are always marked as units. Things get more complicated with Ranged Attacks and Special Attacks however. In this case, the color of the attacking unit is completely irrelevant. Instead, the attacks themselves have preset Realm associations. For Special Attacks, this is mostly intuitive, but for it certainly is not. From the player's perspective, short of memorizing the table below, the only clue here is that attacks that use the same projectile graphic and sound effect are considered to be the same type, and are thus associated with the same Realm, no matter what type of unit is making the attack. For example, both Warrax the Chaos Warrior and Storm Giants shoot identical looking lightning bolts when they make Ranged Attacks, which means that both of these are associated with the same Realm. In this particular case, it is , despite the fact that Storm Giants are creatures, and Warrax is a Hero with no real Realm affiliation besides his title. A full list of these Realm associations can be found in the related sections of the Realm article (here and here), but the ones specifically affected by Bless are also listed in the following table. Combined Bonus In the unique case of the spell, which bonus is granted by Bless, if any, is determined on the spot. Two of the random effects of this Combat Instant are Resistable (Warp Creature and Disintegrate), and will thus trigger the Resistance bonus, while two others (Fire Bolt and Warp Lightning) deal (non-Doom) Conventional Damage. These both activate the Defense bonus instead, although in the case of the Warp Lightning effect, the bonus is halved, as it deals Armor Piercing Damage. Altogether, Bless offers a degree of protection against 4 of the 5 possible harmful effects of . Usage Bless may be cast both overland and in combat, for the basic Casting Costs of and respectively. If the casting is successful, the game will prompt for a friendly unit to be selected as the spell's target. On the overland map, this typically requires clicking on the army stack that contains the unit which, in turn, brings up a list view of all units in that stack, allowing for the target to be picked individually. Only units not already under the effect of Bless may be chosen. Once the spell is cast, a glowing outline appears around the unit (unless it is overridden by a stronger enchantment); and Bless, along with its icon, will be displayed in the unit statistics window when inspecting this unit. The overland version of Bless has an Upkeep Cost of that must be paid at the beginning of every turn to keep the spell in effect. This is automatically deducted by the game from the owner's pool as long as the enchantment remains in existence. If there is insufficient in the pool to pay for the spell, then it will dissipate, ceasing its effect immediately. It may also be cancelled manually by left-clicking its name in the unit statistics window of its target unit. However, this action can only be performed outside of combat, during the caster's own turn. The combat version of Bless does not carry over to the overland map: it will disappear automatically as soon as the battle is over. As such, it has no Upkeep Cost; but at the same time may not be manually removed by its caster either (as enchantments can not be cancelled during a battle). Acquisition As a Common Spell of the Realm, Bless may become available to any Wizard who acquires at least Spellbook. With none, the spell can naturally not be learned during the campaign. This is the minimum requirement for it to be traded for, appear in Treasure, or be found in the spoils of victory when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who already knows it. The base chance for Bless to be researchable (at some point) in the campaign is roughly 30% (with book), which gradually increases with the amount of Spellbooks possessed or found during gameplay. With or more, the spell is certain to show up sooner or later, unless acquired from another source. It has a Research Cost of , although its research is quicker for Wizards possessing the Sage Master Retort, or a bookshelf containing or more. Bless may also be selected as a starting spell by any Wizard with at least books. In this case, it will be available for casting as soon as the game begins. Item Power Bless can also be duplicated as an Item Power and imbued onto a Magical Item, either as a stand-alone enchantment, or as part of the power, which combines it with a Dispel Evil Touch Attack. Since the former only increases the item's value by , it can be imbued even with the spell. For the latter however, with its value increase of , casting is always necessary. and have Spellbook requirements of and to enchant onto an item respectively, but knowledge of the actual Bless spell is not needed for either. In both cases, the resulting effect has the advantages of being non-dispellable, and requiring no Upkeep Cost. On the other hand, they are also transient, meaning that a Hero will only enjoy their benefit while they keep the item equipped. can be enchanted onto any type of magical Platemail, Chainmail, Shield, or Accessory. Naturally, this means that it is available to any Hero, as all of them possess at least one miscellaneous Equipment Slot. , on the other hand may only be placed on weapons - Swords, Maces, and Axes; which excludes pure caster Heroes from utilizing it. As these powers are present on 7 and 10 pre-fabricated Magical Items respectively, it is possible to occasionally find an item already imbued with one of them in Treasure, or be offered such an item for purchase by a wandering Merchant. Strategy Bless is a deceptively useful spell. The premise that it only works against and attacks suggests that it is not worth casting unless going up against Wizards or Encounter Zones using or featuring these Realms. However, that is not actually the case, as indicated by the tables above, that list a large number of Normal Units and Heroes who use attacks against which Bless offers a measure of protection. In particular, it can be quite helpful in the early game on Myrror against Dark Elves and Draconians, even if they are not controlled by a Wizard. Regardless though, the main appeal of Bless is that unlike other similar spells, it also works against Melee Attacks. Combined with the also Common , they grant equivalent to the Rare spell against enemies that trigger the Bless effect with their attacks. This results in an average Conventional Damage reduction of from each attack, which is rather powerful, especially on . In defensive battles, or when attacking enemies that don't use Ranged Attacks that would trigger Bless, it is typically better to cast it during the battle. This is especially true if there are one or more Heroes available with the Caster ability. Given its minimal combat Casting Cost, even the lowest level, lowest Heroes are able to throw this spell at least once per battle. Of course, for units that see a lot of combat, it's nearly always better to have Bless maintained overland instead. The exceptions would be the very early game, where even those 's add up quite quickly; and possibly during ongoing struggles against rival Wizards, since Bless is fairly easy to dispel. In the original game, an average of roughly 31% of all Encounter Zones feature or creatures, against whom Bless will exert its full power. The unofficial Insecticide patch raises this value even further, to over 48%, making Bless an excellent Unit Enchantment to maintain on an army whose primary goal is to clear these sites. If Heroes are used for this task, imbuing this spell onto a Magical Item is likely even better, since it's one of only a handful of non-attribute Item Powers that can be placed on armor, especially when crafting with . Category:Unit Enchantments Category:Life